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A C T A 1! П V ï H S И A T I 3 L 0 D 2 I E N S I S FOLIA LITTSRARIA 18. 1987_______________

Jadwiga Maszeweka

A SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM OF THE AMERICAN ROMANTIC LITERATURE

(1941-1978)

Thia ia a Beleative bibliography of modern criticism of American literature written and published in the yeara 1820-i36Q. It inoludea booke and essays dealing with concepts and themea of American literary Romantioism in general, omitting works discuss-ing sdiscuss-ingle authors, novels, poems or essays.

The starting point of the bibliography is the year 1941, the Publication date of Franoia 0. Matthiessen’s "American Renaissan-ce", The itema in the bibliography are listed chronologically, with entries for any given year appearing in alphabetical order. The aim of suoh an arrangement is to demonstrate the development of contemporary critical approach to American Romantic literature. The chronological listing яеетз to bring out most clearly the dominant oo nce m of post 7/orld 7/ar II oriticism of the American Romantic literature, which has been the struggle for the recogni-tion of thia literary output as artistic creation, rather than as an aspect of the historical and sociological record of the develop-ment of

a

young culture.

Modern literary oriticism of the American Romantic movement grows out of, and frequently in reaction against, the works of such floholara as Arthur 0. Lovejoy, Vernon Louie Parrington, Van Wyck Brooke, Lewie Mumford, Tfvor Winters and Robert Spiller. Brooke, who studied the American literature of the 18th and 19th century, was the firet critic to give a compreheneive view of the American cultural and literary development during that period. Among hi* beet known works are» "America*a Coming of Age (1915), "The Flowering of New England" (1936) and "New England. Indian Summer*(1940). In hia

eaeay

"On the Discrimination of

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Romanti-1Й2_________________________Jad w lał Haai6¥«ka ___________________ Clems'*1 Arthur 0. Lovejoy bringe out tiro aa jor pointa that m o d o m critics of both American and European Roraantiolam have felt obliged to refute. Piret, Lovejoy arguée that since so many ideae and concepts have been associated with the word "Romanticism", tho word Itself has lost all denotative meaning. He finds the "rioh ambiguity of the word regrettable".Hie second point is that the word "RoraantioiBm" should be used in the plural, since the Romantic movement of one country has little in common with that of another.

Parrington’s second volume of "Main Currents in American Thought" entitled "The Romantic Revolution in America! 1800-1860", published in 1927, gives an acoount of the literary oeuvre of major figures of American Romantiolsm. Th« perspective of the presentation is announced by the author himself in the foreword! "letP it be said frankly that I have been guided by what I conceived to be the historical significance of literary works. With aesthetic judgements I have not been greatly oonoerned. I have not wished to evaluate reputations or weigh literary merits, but rather to understand what our fathers thought and why they wrote as they did" . On the grounds of this approach, Parrington speaks of intellectual poverty in Hawthorne's "Amerioah Jfctebooka* covering the years 1835-1853 because "there is no

sug-gestion of interest in the creative ideas of the time, in meta-physics or politics or eoohomlos or humanitarian!am"-*. Thus for Parrington American literature of the Romantic period is an illustration of American history rather than an artistlo creation in its own right.

Similarly, Y vor Winters in "Maule's Cursei Seven Studies in the History of American Obscurantism",published in 1938, analyzes the works of literature of the period here under tiisousslon not in their own terms but in relation to morality, religion and society of the times when those books were written. When speaking of their artistic value, he judges them against the 17th and 18th century English literature. In his opinion, Emily Dickinson is

1 See i PULA 1924, 39.

2 •

V.L. P a r r i n g t o n , Main Currents In American Thought. The Romantic Revolution In America, Hew York 1927, p. i.

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*the greatest lyric poet but lac Icing in taste*. "The quality of silly playfulness whioh renders Dickinson's poetry abominable is diffused more or less perceptibly throughout most of her work, *ad this diffusion is facilitated by the limited range of her metrical schemes"4. It is preeisely this highly original associa-tion of ideas and the unusual use of metrical schemes that make 2aily Diokinson a unique poet in the eyes of today’s literary oritics. As Charles Peidelson poits out in hie introduction to "Symbolisa and American Literature" (1953)» Yvor Unte rs fails to see and study adequately the relationship of the history of ideas to the history of literary forms'*. The historical treatment of American Romantic literature oulminates with Robert Spiller’s

"Literary History of the United States" published in

1940-In post World War II oritioism of the Romantic literature in America, P.O. Hatthiessen’s "Amerloan Renaissance" is generally regarded as the first large-scale attempt to define literary quality of American writing of this period. Matthiessen con-centrates his attention on the fusion of form and content in the works of Ralph W. Emerson, Henry D« Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Herman Mel rille, Edgar Allan Poe and Hathaniel Hawthorne; he analyzes their artistio use of language and evaluates their works keeping In mind "both the author's purposes and our a d e v e l o p i n g oon- ceptions of literature". To Farrington's statement that aesthetic judgement of American literature is not his aim,Matthiessen gives the following answer! "My concern has been opposite* Although I greatly admire Farrington’s eluoidation of our liberal tradition, I think the understanding of our literature has been retarded by the tendency of some of his followers to regard all oritioism as *belletzlstlo trifling*"^. However, Matthiessen*s fundamental assumption that the common denominator of the Amerioan Romantic poets and novelists is "their devotion to the possibilities of democracy* often leads M m away from discussing aesthetio pro—

~ 4 Y. W i n t e r s , Maule’s Curse. Seven Studies In the History of Amerioan Obscurantism, iforfolk 1938, p. <У8.

® Ch. P e i d e l s o n Jr., Symbolism and Amerioan Litera-ture. Chicago 1953, pp* 4-5«

P.O. M a t t h i e s s e n , Amerioan Rennaissnoe, Sew York 1941, reprint 1977, p. lx.

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blems in their works and causes him to concentrate on the hiatori- cal and sociological ones*

Despite the faot that René Wellek's critical work usually has European Pomanticiem as its subjeot, his long struggle to restore meaning to the term "Romanticism" and demonstrate con- oepts and patterns common to the Romantio movemont in many European literatures should be acknowledged here,as its influenoe on modern criticism of American Romanticism is considerable. Wsllek, for the first time, voiced his convictions in an article published in 1949 in tho first issue of the magazine "Comparative Literature",

In the 1950’e there begin to appear works of criticism whose authors have discovered a unifying aesthetic prinoiple in Ameri-can Romantic literature. Among the beet known and still crucial today are Charles Peidelson’s "Symbolism and American Literature", Richard Л.В, Lewie’s "The American Adam", and several works by Perry Miller. With reference to Matthiessen, Peidelson points out that the common denominator for the works of major American Romantics is their "devotion to the possibilities of symbolism", rather than democracy. Although only apprentices in the use of this very sophisticated literary device,they ail employ symbolism to "broaden the possibilities of literature", Richard Я.В. Lewis, in turn, sees the Romantic literature as dominated by the figure of a new mythical h e m , who can best be identified with Adam before the Pall. The publication of Perry Miller's anthology of tranacendentalist writing, with its emphasis on works of less known authors, has brought about a serious critical inquiry into the origins and oomplex nature of Amerioan transcendentalism. "American Transcendentalism", a collection of essays edited by Brian M, Barbour is a valuable contribution to the study of the movement.

The 1960’s witness a wave of oriticism of American Romantic literature baaed on twentieth oentury psychology, James E. Mil- -~er*8 collection of essays "Quests S u m and Absurd" is an example of this approach, the author's a overall thesis being that all the American Romantics explore the "enigmatio.symbolic landscape"' of the unconscious.

In the 1970’s the battle for the artistic recognition of American Romantic literature seems to have been won. American

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Romanticism ie regarded aa part of the Western literary tradition of the period* The works of H.*. Emerson, H. Meivillo, W. Whitman and others are often analysed in the light of the German idealist Philosophy and in relation to English Romanticism. However,taking the universal aspect .çf" American Romanticism for granted, thfi present critios often concentrate on its uniqueness. Its rich religious background and its heritage of the particular relation-ship of man to nature and to civilization are often discussed today, but, unlike twenty years ago, they are considered in terms of their aesthetic implications. Edward H. Foster*s book "The Civilized Wilderness. Backgrounds to American Roraantio Literature,

1817-1860" provides an example of such treatment of the period. The annotations in this bibliography are descriptive rather than evaluative, as the purpose of the survey of modern criticism of Amerioan Romantic literature has beento gain essential general information pertaining to the subject, which would allow for more specifio studies in this field.

1941

1. Matthiessen P.O.; American Renaissance. Art and Expression ln the Age of Emerson and Whitman, New York, Oxford University Press 1977 reprint, 678 Р*

Matthiessen is the first critic to evaluate the works of the most widely read American Romantics "in accordance with the en-during requirements of great art" and to regard preoccupation with form as:the "oritie’s first .responsibility". Hie study con-centrates on the "conceptions held by five of our major writers oonoeraing the function and nature of literature, and the degree to whioh their practioe bore out their theories". However, having identified "possibilities of democracy" as the unifying principle of American Romantic literature, the author often abandons dis-cussion of aesthetio problems in favour of historical and socio-logical ones.

1950 ... ■

2. Miller Parry, Introduction to "The Transoendentalists. An Anthology", Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, pp. 3—20.

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tforks of łonu known transcendentaliet writ era are presented with tha emphasis on primary importance of the movement as a whole, despite the secondary quality of particular authors writings. Transcendentalism was a spontaneous and instinctive protest, "the

first of a succession of revolts by the youth of America against American Philistinism", It was the revoit of religious radicalism ’ againnt national conservatism of Uniterianism. This revival of religion found new forme of expression in literature, patterns for whioh were supplied by Victor Cousin, William Wordsworth, Sa-muel T, Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle, The religious oharaoter of the movement has not been appreciated because students know only the more familiar works of Thoreau and Emerson.

1952

3, Adams Richard P., Romanticism and the American Renaissance, "Amerioan Literature", No. 23, pp. 419-432.

The essential innovation of Romanticism consists in the shift from a static image to a dynamic organism. Values of static mechanism - reason, order,- permanence - are replaced by trheir counterparts in an organic universe - instinct or intuition, freedom, change. Romantic thought rejects absolute values, formal classifications and exclusive judgements, welcoming novelty, ori-ginality and variety. It is interested in relationships, such aa the organic unity of man and nature. In America, the change took place between Jonathan Edwards and Ralph W. Emerson, Benjamin Franklin and '.Valt Whitman. "Hoby-Dick", "Walden" and "Song of Uyself", which Adams considers to bo the greatest works of Ameri-can Romanticism, are nalyzed in terms of dynamic organicism of content and form.

1953

4. Feidelson Charles Jr., The Symbolism and American Litera-ture, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 355 p.

Feidelson reacts again3t the easy generalization that Amerioan literature is formless and crude, and criticizes the American literary historian for having largely avoided questions of

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litera-ГУ method. He finds the unifying factor of the major Romantio /'•rt.tera, poets and essayists in America in their "devotion to the Possibilities of symbolism". Although only apprentices in the area, they use eymboliem - one of the most sophisticated literary devices - to "broaden the possibilities of literature". The symbolism of American literary Romanticism accounts for its link •lth and significance for the m o d e m literature.

1955

5. Carpenter Frederick I., Amerioan Literature and the Dream, Hew York, Fhilosphical Library, Inc., vi, 220 p.

The book contains essays interpreting literature of the Romantic period as a symbolic and experimental projection of the themes of "the Amerioan dream". Their major concern is a new dis-cussion of the American writers of the period individually In terms of their contrasting attitudes toward "the American dream".

6. Lewis R.W.B., The American Adora. Innocence, Tragedy and Tradition in the Hlneteenth Century, Chloago and London, The University of-Chloago Press, 205 p.

Leading Intellectual spokesmen of the -period 1820-1860» novelists, poets, essayists, critics, historians and preachers, conscious of the birth of a new oulture,were engaged in a dialogue, the purpose of which was to analyze as well as to contribute to the shaping of that culture. The most recurrent ideas of the dis-course - novelty, innocence, experience, sin, time, evil, hope, the past and the present and tradition - are traced in all major works of the time* Out of these considerations emerges the Ameri-oan myth, the hero of which Ameri-oan be identified with Adam before the Fall» The ideal of the newborn innooent man was both rejoiced in and deplored by writers of the age, as they held it responsible both for glorious achievements and tragedies of thsir heroes.

1957

7. Bewley Marius*, The Eccentric Design. Form in tho Classic American Hovel, Hew York, Columbia University Press,321 p.

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The book disouases the 3pecifio, "national" form of the American novel and tho particular social and eoonomio oonditiona which brought about its rise. Bewley argues that, unlike European writers, the American novelists do not find in America the kind of society, or "social density", which could provide sources of themes and to which they could address themselves. Thus they are concerned with abstract ideas, symbolism and the writer’s sense of alienation. Chapters II-VIII are devoted to Jane« ?. Cooper, Sathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville.

1959

8. Carpenter Frederick I., "The American Myth*. Paradlse{To Be) Regained, PMLA, No. 74* pp* 599-606.

Current critics search for a oingle myth to explain Amerioan character. The myth of "the Amerioan Adam", and those of "the American farmer" and "the noble savage" aa related to it, are discussed* A survey of oritioal endeavours to interpret American life and literature in terma of this myth are provided. "Walden" and "Leaves of Grass" are chosen as examples in the presentation of the myth. References are made to the usa of myth in later 19th and 20th century ntuola.

1960

9. Howard Leon., Literature and the Amerioan Tradition, New York, Doubleday and Company, Ino,, 354 Р*

Native characteristics of Amerioan literature are identified and discussed. Part II, devoted to 19th oentury, divides writers of the period into three categories. Sdgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry W. Longfellow and Oliver W. Holmes represent the empirical strain, "following reason in the Baconian sense of what John Locke had called »human understanding«". Emerson, Aloott and Thoreau, the leading American transceudentaliets, teach "a gospel of practical activity baaed upon an intuitive perception of Ideal order, a perception which waa and must be that of eaoh individual регзоп". Herman Melville and Walt Whitman, self-educated and thus "unaffeoted by academic ties with Europe and the aeathotio allegiances that accompanied these",most fully reflect the Ameri-oan mind of mid-19th century.

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1961

10. Pearce Boy H.,Tha Continuity of American Poetry,Princeton, Saw Jerseyr Princeton University Press, xi, 442 p.

American poetry ia analysed from the point of view of lasting and continuous significance of tha poems themselves. The 19th century poetic experience io discussed in Chapters IV and V. Amerioan Romantic poetry le the result of the d a s h of the poet’s awareness of anti«poetio life of men in his society,and the anti- -poetic language as his medium, with the poetio conception of man in general.’The self is the axis of this poetry, "whioh insisted, that in its egocentrism la;v its universality". Edgar Allan Poe, Walt »hitman and Ralph W, Emerson, who tried to grasp the essence of American poetic experience, wore in disagreement with con-temporary readers, to whom their poetry seemed obscure. The Pireaide Poets - James R. Lowell, Oliver W. Holmes,Henry W.

Long-fellow - were appreciated, as their poetry,devoted to the typical and the normal, rather than the original and the aberrant.brought simple pleasure and comfort.

1964

S ' ' ; .'* ' 11. Boas George., The Romantic Self, "Studies in Romanticism",

Ho. 4, pp. 1~16.

As a result of having been elevated to a very high pooition in the German idealist philosophy, the self plays the major role in Romantic literature. The self gains primary importance in Amerioan literature after 1830, The Romantio self la always yearning for reconoiliation with the world outside it. However, it is conscious of the tragio limitation of exhibiting Itself against the background of others, Mobody can describe himself in hie own terms because we only know the vocabulary of common human experience. There is a "oonflict between what is felt by the individual,and suffered and believed as a private being inaccessi-ble to other*, and what the individual observes as going on about him".

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12. Marz Leo., The Machine in the Garden. Technology »nd the Paetoral Ideal in Amerioa, Hew York, Oxford Unirerei- ty Ргезя, 392 p.

Throughout the American culture, the author traces what he considère to be a vital aspect of the American oonsoiousness, i.e., man's discontent with the complex industrialised world and his longing for a Biraple way of life close to nature which, howe-ver, Marx understands as an instinotive desire,ąuoh «ore profound than common "sentimental pastoraliHra".Chapter V discusses in this light the works of the most prominent American Rooaatioa.

1966

13« Transcendentalism and Its Legacy, 3imon,Myron and Parsons, Thornton H. eds. Ann Arbor, The University of Miohigan Press.

This is a collection of essays dealing with transcendentalism and its influence on American literature. lot read.

1967

14. Miller James E. Jr., Unchanted Warriors. The Amerioan Romantics Revisited, "Quests Surd and Absurd. Essays in American Literature", Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, pp. 316-330.

American literature is paralyzed between hope and despair, the affirmative and the negative, illusion and fact, optimism and pessimism, the ideal and the real. American Romantics are divided into "sons of lighfi Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and "sons of darkness"« Poe, Hawthorne, Melville. Author sees their "meeting ground" in the exploration of the unconscious. "They create psychological structures with objects, places or characters func-tioning symbolically, leading the reader inward into the mares of the mind".

15>* Miller Perry, The Romanoe and the Hovel, "Hature's na-tion", Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, pp.241- -278.

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'American fiction wa* born at the time when distinction between novel and romance waa very clear and authors had to choose between the two. "Romance maintained through Long Tom Cof-fin and Natty Bumppo that there is a positive, creative, Joyous union, active on both sides,between the virtuous soul and beauti-ful nature, between the heroic aoul and sublime nature". Accused of sentimentality and fruitleesness, the romance lost its арреаЗ after Civil War. "Melville’s question become an empty scream аз soon as the issue of a tnor*l and aesthetic correspondence between human emotion and the earthly hues of sunset skies was relega.ed to the bog of sentimentalism".

1968

16. Waggoner Hyatt H.,American Poets Prom the Puritans to the Present, Boston, Houghton Miffin Company, xxi, /40 ?•

The history of American poetry is presented through the works of individual poets, who are oelected and discussed in the light of Emerson1 s poetry and essays. Emerson is seen as "the cent raj. figure of American poetry, essential both as spokesman and an catalyst, not only the founder of the chief »line«* of our poetry but essential for an understanding of those poets who numbered among his poetic sons". Part Two, «Transcendental Dawn«, deals with Ralph W. Emerson, Henry D. Thoreau, Jones Very and Edgar Allan Poe. Port Three, "Tho Transcendent Self", is a presenta-tion of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.

1969

17. Porte Joel., The Romance in America. Studies in Coopai, Poe, Hawthorne, Uelville and James, Middletown, Conn., Wesleyan University Press, 290 p.

In reaponae to Perry Miller’s "Romance and the N o v e l " ( see No. 15), the author broadens the definition of romance as os

colly concerned with wilderness as tho American heritage, bee he finds it restrictive and failing to "perceive certain un am tal and organio links among our authors". The real subjeo ma ex of romance deals with "the geographically unlooatable rea m between society (or natu«) and the responding oonsoiousn

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Highly critical of Miller’s assumption that romane* «a* outmoded after th* Civil War, Port* argues that it 1* etill a common form of modern American novel. The fiotional quest for knowledge of the wilderness ie synonymous - as ia th* Emersonian «quation "Know thyself - Study Nature" - with the desire and need to ex-plore the self,

1970

18. Adame Richard P., Permutations of Amerioan Romantioism, "Studies in Romanticism", Ho. 9, pp. 249-268.

The author revises his own concept of Romanticism as expressed ia his artloie "Romantioism and Amerioan Renaissance" (see No.3). The final impulse of Romantioism was a shift from statloism to dynamism, orgoniolsm being mainly a means of control, a technical defense against ohaos. For 19th century writers, the flux, the energy 6f motion and not the oontrolling mechanism was of primary concern. A contradiction resulting from expressing energy of motion through organiclsm Is demonstrated in the writings of Emerson, Whitman, Melville and Hawthorne. Dickinson,the most con-sistently dynamic-and disconoerned with means of control, is the

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only one to eaoape the contradiction. Other images of oontrol of flux used in late 19th aàd early 20th century Amerioan literature, In whioh the Romantio tradition Is still present,aro also identi-fied and analyzed.

1973

19. Amerioan Transcendentalism. An Anthology of Critioism, Barbour Brian M, ed. Notre Dame and London, University of Notre Dame Press, 301 p«'

A collection of essaye by distinguished Amerioan scholars at-tempting to define the main themes of Amerioan transcendentalism, the book is divided Into five sections dealing with principal in-tellectual disciplines and discussing the phenomenon from the point of view of its origin,historical relationships and cultural effects.

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20. Buell Lawrenae, Literary Transcendentalism, Ithaca and Cornell University Presa, 336 p.

An inquiry into the transcendentallst aesthetics, tha book tries to demonstrate hqw transoendentalist literature, nonfictio- nal for the most' part, should be read. "The transcendentalism movement [...] has appealed to scholars more as a symptom of Wew England’s flowering *• or decay - than for its intrinsic merits aa a body of literature or as a system of thought". Although not fully satisfying as either expositions of theology or works of art, transcendentalist writings possess great rhethorical power and suggestiveneas. This study attempts "to find better ways Oi measuring the qualities of auch works". It makes use of intellec-tual history, critical explication and genre study in order "to outline the nature and evolution of the transcendentalisto* cha-racteristic literary aim and approaches, and the ways in which these express the authors' underlying principles or vision".

21. Lieber Todd M., Endless Experiments. Essays On the Heroic Experience ln American Romanticism, Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State University Press, 277 p.

In reaction to A.O. Lovejoy'a claim that the word "Roman-ticism" has lost denotative meaning and that -unifying themes of Romantic literature remain yet to be demonstrated,lieber presents a series of essays dealing with the theme of American Romantic hero as involved in the drama of the self in the works of Thoreau, Whitman, Melville and Poe. Serious American Romanticism grows ou- of the Puritan intellectual heritage and consequently is dualistio in nature, rooted in a deep sense of distinotivness of mind and object, spirit and matter, man and God. To reconcile these opposi-tes, as was the aim of Romanticism, the American hero must engage himself in constant motion, both physical and psychological, and a tragic search for harmony, in a constant ebb and flow, between the extremities of a universe perceived in dualistic terms.

22. ïoder S.A., The Equilibrist Perspective. Toward a Theory of Amerioan Romanticism, "Studies in Romanticism", No.12, pp. 705-740.

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The American Homaatio author ia aeon In a transition fr m the Orphic poet, or the Imaginative Man, to a figure Yoder oalle the Equilibrist, the man who strikes the balance between the eJrtremes. i/hereao the Imaginative Man relies on the spontaneous, visionary power to build his own world, the Equilibrist confronts the world already shaped and impenetrable to his mind, his virtues being courage, endurance, wit and, above all, power to survive. The artist is an outcast, aiming always at the mid point between the actual and the ideal, and the world Is a fragmented patchwork. The idea, first articulated In Longfellow’s "Keramos", 1в later developed in the prose of Melville and Hawthorne, both of whom renounce the high Romantio quest for unity end perfection*

1975

23. Poster Edward H., The Civilized Wilderness. Backgrounds To American Romantio Literature 1817-1860, Sew York, The Free Press, and London, Collier Maomlllan Publishers, 220 p.

Backgrounds against whioh the Amerioan Romantio literature (whioh began with William C. Bryant’s "Thanatopsis" - the first significant poem to oome from the nation) should be seen are analyzed, Amerioan identity in the Romantio period depended heavily on the Amerioan setting - the wilderness, whioh was popularly associated with virtue and good. The years 1817-1860 mark out the first major phase in the literature of the United States. The book is an inquiry into how literature was shaped by and how it refleoted oer+ain extraliterary interests.

24. Mease Elizabeth, Transcendentalism: The Metaphysics of the Theme, "American Literature", No. 47, pp. 1-20.

Theory of American transcendentalism as a philosophical and

aesthetic movement oannot be formulated through study of separate

disciplines - religion, literature, politics - in whioh it exists*

?ranj3cendentallsm may, however, bo defined through metaphysical

analysis, the superiority of which is demonstrated. The tendency

to read works of transcendentalists too literally or apply

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"Obaorvationa On the Growth of Mind" published in 1826, whioh presents transcendence as reoonoiliation of subject end object to produoe perfect understanding, is seen as instrumental in esta-blishing the idea of correspondence as baslo to Amerioan transcen-dentalism. The works of Emerson and Thoreau are analysed*

1976

25. Adtkina S.D., A Seleotive Annotated Bibliography on Amerioan Literary Romantioism. "Dissertation Abstracts International", No. 37, position 5116 A.

The thesis lists 1100 books and artiolos on American Romanti- ciara published in the years 1900-1974* Not read.

26. Yoder R.A., “First Romantioe and Last Revolution",Studios in Romantlolam, No. 15, РР* 493-529.

The Romantic poet, diplomat and historian George Banoroft (1800-1891, between 1834-1874 published a "History of the United States") views the Amerioan Revolution as an effort to freo and unite the new nation. Both John end Quincy Adama embody tho Romantic ideal of independence also oelebrated in the literory masterpieces of American Romantioism. The Romantics, uncertain about the conaequenoes of liberty,equality and popular demooruti.c politics, wanted the first revolution to be the last one аз well. Thus they regard the Constitution as a fully developed "spinal cord or nervous system" that regulates and controls the whole national organism. The Romantioe eulogize the "perfeot whole and "transcendental union" of the United States as artiste, whereas the Adamses did so as legislators.

1977

27. Kehler Joel R., The H o u s e Divided. A Version of American Romantic "Double Consciousness", "Papers on Language and Literature", No. 13, РР* 148-167*

The central duality of the Romantic experience consists in the awareness of the wide outside world and the inabi у о

self to possess the whole externality, or its limita en s own "house". Emerson labele this "double oonsclousnese". The mind

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mist endlessly recreate itself through the Interaction of static

and dynamic principles. The Romantio ultimate goal is not to

overcome the duality but to recognize and control it.

28. Stern Milton R., American Yalues and Romantio Fiotion,

"Studies In Amerioan Fiction", No. 5, pp. 13-33.

Attempting to show how the popular literary marketplace

af-fected the Amerioan Romantic fiotion, the author examines

edi-torial policies and reviews of the period. "My thesis is that

whatever the idiosynoratic, oreative, psychological oenters of

our writers* lives were, the oommon oultural, oreative center of

their lives was what really is a deep political aotttheir attempt

to mediate between the truth they wanted to tell their society

and their society’s unexamined assumptions. It was their attempt

to mediate between their vocational and sooial identities, a

con-flict deatruotive of self and oreative of fiction, and moat

intricately and dramatically seen in Hawthorne" (p. 25)•

1978

29. Richardson Robert 0. Jr., Myth and Literature In the

Amerioan Renaissance, Bloomington and London, Indiana

University Press, 309 p.

"The main purpose of this book is to show how nineteenth-

oentury American writers from Emerson to Melville dealt with the

problem of myth, t.i.J how these writers themselves understood

nyth and used it in their writing". Unlike other myth studies,

this one refraine from the use of twentieth century myth theory

and explores the concepts of myth that were available to mid-

-nineteenth century writers.

Instytut

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Jadwiga Maszewska SELEKTYWNA BIBLIOGRAFIA ROMANTYZMU AMERYKAŃSKIEGO

(1941-1978)

Niniejsza bibliografia obejmuje książki i artykuły poświęcone ogólnym ideom i zjawiskom romantyzmu amerykańskiego w literature® opublikowane po drugiej wojnie światowej. Prace te spisana są

w

porządku chronologicznym według dat ioh publikacji. Każdej

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